Diane Abbott and trade unionists raise concerns about the Football Lads Alliance

Published Fri 6 Oct 2017

Issue No. 2575

The Football Lads Alliance last staged a protest in London in June

Labour’s shadow home secretary Diane Abbott and leading trade unionists have raised concerns about the Football Lads Alliance (FLA).

The FLA claims “thirty to forty thousand” people will march under the banner of “united against extremism” in central London tomorrow, Saturday. The FLA will attract people with all sorts of different ideas, but it has support from prominent fascists and racists.

That’s why leading figures have signed a statement by Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), which plans an event outside Downing Street as the FLA marches.

Bugle is founder of Mothers Against Radical Islam and Sharia (Marias) and supported the fascist English Defence League.

Bugle released a message to supporters before a Marias rally in 2015. “I don’t care what you are, I don’t care if you’re Britain First, I don’t care if you’re English Defence League, I don’t even care if you’re National Front,” she said.

The FLA is still forming as a movement and could go in a number of directions. And Bugle being pulled from the line up shows that what anti-racists do can have an impact.